Vending machines are ubiquitous in our society today, and provide a quick and convenient point of purchase for many different types of goods and services. Virtually any type of good or service can be sold to customers and consumers through vending machines. There is a great need also in our society to donate to charities, and to facilitate donations to charities. Heretofore, vending machines have not in any way been utilized to accomplish this laudable and socially useful set of goals.
There are many manual processes that take place at the point of sale (POS) today but no such mechanism exists whereby chartable, alternative or additional disbursements can take place. For instance, in a local convenience store after purchasing a soda, the consumer may have $0.50 change if they handed $2.00 to a cashier in fulfillment of a $1.50 payment for the item. Oftentimes there are “Charity Buckets” or coin cards to the side of the register where the consumer can simply drop the change as a donation. There is also a type of POS transaction wherein the clerk asks if a certain dollar amount may be put towards a certain charity. Nothing is done like this on vending machines, and there is a need in the art for a vending machine that can facilitate charitable donations from a consumer of the goods or services sold by the vending machine.